Next up is the Puffa Puffa Cereal parody, then I would like to tackle the other one I talked about: a moody interior of the Tonga Room as it was in it's Heyday. First I need to scrape up some money for supplies (canvasses and brushes mainly) and do some research: going to need as many photos from as many angles as I can get. I am really having fun with the whole pin-up girl thing and would like to do an entire series of those but not sure what form it will take yet. I am toying with the idea of doing a full series of cereal box parodies with pin-up girls which I think would be a lot of fun. Like "Lucy Charms" showing a lovely lady in a scantily clad leprechaun outfit, "Trixy" showing another lovely lady in a bunny costume etc you get the idea. Not sure if I do those if I should post them here though since they have nothing to do with tiki, probably only the Puffa Puffa one would show up here.

Thanks for the compliments everyone I really appreciate them.
Zero St.- Those feathery strokes were so hard for me to do, I am not at all used to being subtle in my art I am glad they worked out well. Loving your "Ku in Blue", I cannot possibly keep up with you and LLT's paint'in speed, you folks are just too much.

LLT- Yes, in some ways this was another first for me with all the many lighting sources under the water, and the movement in water as well. Might seem kinda silly, but I filled up a pitcher of water in the tap and used a straw to blow air into it to sort of study the movement of the bubbles and how the light reflected on them with two light sources. I still didn't get it exactly right, but it is a fair illusion of how it looks.

Wendy- Thanks, I eagerly am watching your downfall girls posts.

Mike- It may seem enticing, but them mermaids have got supernatural abilities to stand extreme temperatures; that "bubble-bath" is probably around 200 degrees where her fanny is.

LLT- Yes, in some ways this was another first for me with all the many lighting sources under the water, and the movement in water as well. Might seem kinda silly, but I filled up a pitcher of water in the tap and used a straw to blow air into it to sort of study the movement of the bubbles and how the light reflected on them with two light sources. I still didn't get it exactly right, but it is a fair illusion of how it looks.

i was gonna ask about them bubbles....
the sign of a true seeker!

looking forward to the Tonga piece
hoping you'll post some studies as you progress
and not leave us out in the cold!
and mahalo for all the cheerleading!
TC is certainly a refuge where us artistic misfits can gather!

Bought some sheets of wood veneer and some long rectangular small wood pieces for sides. I am going to make my own wood panels to paint on, it is ever so much cheaper. For the price I was paying for a single panel or canvas at the art store I can make about six to eight wood panels myself.

And I have two projects now that I want to do. The aforementioned Puffa Puffa Cereal box parody and the following revelation:

After seeing absolutely the most mind blowing billboard I have ever seen in my life over in the Mai Kai Archaeology thread: http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=26630&forum=1&start=105I ABSOLUTELY MUST make a painting of this sign lit up at night in all the beautiful splendor it must have once possessed. Bonus is the fact that the photo has an indepth description of the colors and how it looked (that pineapple was actually gilded with gold... holy crap). The only thing that worries me a little is the end pole tikis are a little difficult to make out all the details properly in the photo clipping. I am super excited about doing this one though I love light reflections and shadows, it is going to be fun painting all the various multicolor light reflections in the gilding of the pineapple alone. Not sure of what the size will be yet, but I am thinking something along the lines of 15 X 25 for a nice oblong rectangle.

Still going to do the Tonga Room too, but that one is going to take time to research and lay out.

Can't wait till I get the wood cut and assembled and can start painting!!!

I don't know if it helps, but Michael's has a coupon for 40% off any single item in every Sunday's paper, once in a while there's a 50% off. They sell canvases. You can usually find the coupons online too, you can print as many as you want but you have to make a separate trip for each coupon.

Can't wait to see the next project
_________________When you hurry through life, you just get to the end faster.
Pirate Ship Tree House

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I did look into Michaels with the coupon thing, but even with 50% off the wood panels still cost about $12, and the canvasses are close to the same. Whereas the hand built wood panels will cost me about $5.00 each, and I can size them how I want.

As for Goodwill... they have gone way up on their prices round here, and I almost never find any suitable canvasses (about all I find is the pre-printed "art" canvasses, and they have this weird plastic sort of varnish layer that paint doesn't stick to that well). It is actually rare if I can find a bargain on much of anything I want or need at Goodwill these days sad to say.

As for Goodwill... they have gone way up on their prices round here, and I almost never find any suitable canvasses (about all I find is the pre-printed "art" canvasses, and they have this weird plastic sort of varnish layer that paint doesn't stick to that well). It is actually rare if I can find a bargain on much of anything I want or need at Goodwill these days sad to say.

a vigorous sanding will add some tooth to adhere some gesso over those canvases
should take paint too especially cel-vinyl....
the KartoonKolor ones are the ones i get(from Art Supply Warehouse here
and i think you can order them online if they're not in your vicinity!

Thanks LLT I will try that some time. Meanwhile however I am very very pleased with the homemade wood panels. Out of one single sheet of wood veneer which I paid $11.45 for, I got 18 pieces in various sizes. So this means once I am done and have them gessoed and ready for painting the cost of materials for each one will be $4.00 or less...can't beat that. Next step is to cut up the side framing and glue it (or nail it) to the panels. I like how smooth the wood is on this veneer too, so I won't have to do much with the gesso before I can paint.

Here is a pic of the haul so far, and no waste pieces at all.

As you can see by the Wheaties box, the smallest panels are just a few inches larger all around than a cereal box (those are for my cereal pinups project of which the first one will be the Puffa Puffa Rice parody). One of those large ones will be the Tonga Room painting, and probably the mid size one will be the Mai Kai billboard one, unless I decide to use one of the larger ones I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Getting all kinds of excited now! So much painting ahead... whoopee!!!

Is that Luan board? Many of my paintings are done on Luan which I buy at Home Depot. I love working on it and prefer it canvas anyday!

I also thought the smooth surface would mean an easier time prepping it, but I found that if I didn't gesso it well the paint just seemed to get soaked up in the wood grain and dry brushing was extremely frustrating.

Howdy ZeroSt, no it is not Luan (however you spell it) it is I believe a birch wood veneer panel for paneling walls. I have used Luan board before for theatrical backdrops, and while it is wonderful to paint on, it cracks very easy and doesn't "breathe" well so I imagine difficult paints like oils would be very hard to use on it. Yeah I know raw wood soaks up paint like a sponge, that is why I think before I gesso I am going to use a roller and lay down some white house primer (which is practically the same thing as gesso, it just doesn't have as much "chalk"so less tooth and not as thick. I do this with the Luan when I do backdrop paintings, and then just use house paint to paint the backdrops, so I figure it shouldn't be too much different if I lay down a layer of primer, then some gesso. Seems like everything is an experiment these days.

I Just can't afford to keep shelling out $22-$30 per panel/canvas ($11-$15 on sale with a coupon, but that still is too much for my current budget). Especially if I want to save up for some new supplies like an easel so I don't keep getting neck aches from looking down. As they say, "It's whatcha do with whatcha got".

Well I am still working on getting the new painting panels together, but I am also a stagehand in a upcoming theatrical play and as such I get a half page ad in the program. I made an ad that looks like something you might find in the phone book in the 1940's for a Tiki bar to go with my website theme. Thought you guys might enjoy it. It is for a play called "A Tuna Christmas" so there is a little injoke about one of the characters in there, in case you are wondering about the Didi line.

It being the season of spooks and specters, thought I would share this little Halloween piece I did a while back. I originally did this for my art site as a background pattern, because I was going to have the backgrounds change seasonally but found out it was more trouble than it was worth. It is based on the creepy legend of the night marchers.
The overall pieced together pattern:
The single art design:
Happy All Hallows Eve TCer's!

May be a little while before I do some more art. I took a bit of a less than graceful fall down the stairs at the theater I am volunteering at, I didn't break anything but need to rest up for a few days to help my muscles that got jerked around to the point the doc said they almost tore. Meanwhile what strength I have has to be devoted to the play I am helping with. I will be doing more painting soon though don't you worry.